Bench rests are devices used to support and stabilize a shooter firing a firearm, most typically a rifle. Bench rests are used to sight firearms, as well as to participate in the sport of bench rest shooting. Examples of such support devices can found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,715,625 to West, III, 5,414,949 to Peebles, 5,287,643 to Arizpe-Gilmore, 5,271,175 to West, III, 5,173,563 to Gray, 5,149,900 to Buck, 5,060,410 to Mueller, 3,711,984 to Dyer et al., and 3,125,929 to Peasley, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
In the sport of bench rest shooting, in its traditional form, a shooter uses a bench rest to fire successive rounds at a stationary target placed at a fixed, known distance. The object of this sport is to hit a specific portion or portions of the target with successive rounds. A shooter's score is measured by the accuracy with which the rounds hit the target. Bench rests for traditional bench rest shooting are typically large metal-framed or concrete benches designed to stabilize the firearm.
A variation of the sport of bench rest shooting at stationary targets has evolved to encompass shooting at multiple and moving targets, including varmints. Traditional bench rests have proved inadequate for multiple or moving targets because of the elaborate steps necessary to realign the rest to aim the firearm in a different direction. Realignment forces the shooter out of a shooting posture, disrupting the aim of the firearm, and takes valuable time, during which the target often moves to a new location.
Some bench rests have been designed for use with multiple and moving targets, by incorporating a pivoting or rotating firearm support. However, in those existing bench rests that have rotating components the axis of rotation does not remain vertical if the bench rest is used on uneven terrain. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,410 to Mueller discloses a collapsible shooting stand with rotatable components, yet the axis of rotation will tilt depending on the slope of the land on which the stand rests. When the axis of rotation of existing shooting stands is anything but vertical, as is often the case on rough terrain, gravity will cause the components to tend toward the lowest point of rotation. This is an annoyance to the shooter, who occasionally finds himself unintentionally spinning away from his target.